Turns Out, A Lot Of People Are Putting Vaseline On Their Hands Right Now

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In these times of self-isolation, we're getting inventive with different uses for things around the house.

With all the handwashing going down at this time, your hands are no doubt looking a little worse for wear.

You’ve got the remnants of three week old Shellac hanging by a thread (we’ve got a fix for that here), and your hands are dryer than a Northern Territory truck driver (no shade guys, but look after those things, damn).

Now we already have a product that does a pretty good fix for this – it’s called hand cream. It’s a cream, specifically formulated to hydrate your hands.

Alas, if you don’t have access to hand cream in your isolated state, you’ve probably gone looking for alternative options – some better than others.

According to one post on Reddit, there are an exponential number of people slathering their hands in petroleum jelly.

It certainly comes in a big enough tub to last quarantine. Image: VaselineSource:Whimn

Yep, the humble tub of Vaseline has been a hot favourite in response to one user’s question about their hands looking weathered.

“Apply Vaseline at night, and during the day also. I bought a cheap chapstick version too and I use it on my knuckles and between fingers and it made my skin good again (before it was literally falling apart),” one user confirmed.

“Another chiming in for Vaseline, then putting on cotton gloves, or even socks on your hands overnight. This will seal in the moisture from within your skin (rather than adding it from the outside) which is more effective in healing. A few nights in a row of this and you’ll start to really feel improvement. Vaseline or petroleum oil based ointments also will not sting your chapped areas,” replied one.

This stuff is super drying, as we can all now attest. Image: Unsplash/Kelly SikkemaSource:Whimn

But as anyone who has used Vaseline for erm, anything else can attest, it’s notoriously sticky and covering your whole hand with it doesn’t exactly sound practical, does it?

“Good question but no, applied thinly it soaks right in after a minute and just feels soft,” explained one fan of the iconic tub.

Other suggestions included olive oil, raw shea butter and drinking more water (let the record show this last one isn’t going to cut the cheese).

However in these times of economic peril, it’s well worth doing your bit and splashing out for an actual hand cream (Vaseline do those too!) that does what it says on the tube. You can always jump online and order one from a store that’s struggling – then you can have soft hands and the feel good factor, too.

Typing is hard work on hands too. Image: Unsplash/Sincerely MediaSource:Whimn